Texas House kills lottery commission, then revives it

Updated 11:43 pm, Tuesday, April 23, 2013

AUSTIN — The Texas House on Tuesday stuck a fork in the state lottery commission then resuscitated the agency hours later, realizing that dissolving it would create an unwieldy budget gap for schools and charities that depend on their piece of the pie.

It created high drama in the House, as lawmakers stunned many in the chamber by voting against a bill to ensure the Texas Lottery Commission continues operating for the next 12 years.

"The Lottery Commission is gone," Rep. Linda Harper Brown, R-Irving, declared from the dais after the House voted 81-65 against a sunset bill to continue the commission.

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A second vote reversed the action with a 92-53 tally.

Led by House Republicans, the vote to abolish the commission jeopardized the future of the Texas Lotto and other games like scratch-off tickets and charity bingo. It also put in limbo lottery revenues used to fund state services, including $2.2 billion for schools.

Within hours - and after some serious behind-the-scenes lobbying by House leaders - lawmakers returned from a lunch break and decided to bring the bill back to the floor for more debate.

With little fanfare, the House voted again late Tuesday afternoon to reverse itself and resurrect the state lottery commission, tentatively passing a measure that allows the commission to continue operating. The bill still needs to clear a final hurdle Wednesday.

"We began talking to people about their options on filling a $2.2 billion hole in the public education budget," said Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, who authored the bill to continue the lottery commission. "That was going to be cutting the public school budget or raising taxes. Neither of which seemed like palatable option.

"I think when people took a sober look at the budget dilemma that would ensue they voted differently."

The Lottery Commission also licences charitable bingo operations.

Anchia's House Bill 2197 was supposed to be a routine sunset measure - one in which legislative action is required in order for a certain laws to continue enacted. Instead, it sparked a spirited debate about whether the lottery unfairly preys on the poor and gave observers their first view of infighting in the House this session.

At one point during the debate, Rep. Scott Sanford, R-McKinney, called the lottery a "predatory tax" and "a tax on poor people."

On Twitter, Rep. Steve Toth, R-Houston, echoed those sentiments: "This was nothing more than a tax on the poor," he said. After the second vote, Toth tweeted: "Money talks & principal goes by the way side. On 2nd reading, 30 people fold and the Lotto survives. We will continue to take from the poor."

Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, protested the idea of plucking billions from public education, saying proceeding with the budget as written would be like "dealing with Monopoly money" without the $2.2 billion from lottery sales.

"The House is a mercurial place. There are a lot of surprises in the House and this was one of them," Anchia said of the day's debate. "There were more members than I thought who were against the lottery."